


Deal with the Devil

by GleGeal



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27300700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GleGeal/pseuds/GleGeal
Summary: If the Ancients are Angels, then the Ori are Demons.  And the War for Heaven isn’t over.The Ori invasion of the Milky Way failed and the Ancients succeeded in driving them to another dimension of existence for a short time. Now they are back, and the Devil has arrived on Earth with a new approach: he’s going to offer the Humans a deal…Betray the Ancients and in return the Ori will give them what they most desire.
Relationships: John Sheppard/Elizabeth Weir
Kudos: 8





	Deal with the Devil

The Ori sovereign had many names. To his own people he was known simply as the High Lord. To the second iteration of Humanity, he had been known as Wuotan.  
But times had changed. The Ancients had interfered as the always did. Now he had a new name, one that on the whole rather amused him. 

Now, they called him Lucifer. 

~

Lucifer stood on the command deck of the Ori flag ship, calmly watching the final moments of the space battle his fleet had just won. They had at last claimed the final bastion of Ancient control in this heathen galaxy and would soon begin to free the pitiable Humans of their causal chains. 

His attention drifted from the debris of the Tauri vessels to the planet below. Bluegreen in the vast darkness, it reminded him of Celestis. Of home. It teemed with life. The second evolution of Humanity. Billions of them. He sighed, he would take up the burden, he would save these people as he had saved so many others before them. 

By liberating this world, the task of freeing the others in this galaxy would be greatly lessened. And to complete that task, he needed to convince the Ancient’s most ardent followers to his side, those whose actions had influenced the fate of this planet. 

They were battle-hardened, and had just lost their holy war, had attempted genocide in the name of the Ancients even. They could not be swayed by a strong hand. In the mythos of their collective unconscious, the Ori were the very embodiment of evil. He would have to work within the confines of that belief structure. 

Lucifer smiled to himself: They thought he was the Devil? Well, then. He would offer them a deal. 

The Ancients enjoyed their adherents sufferings. He, on the other hand, would grant each of them their most deeply held desire. And in return, all that he asked, was that they pledge their allegiance to the Ori. 

~

Daniel was back in the tent with Shar’e. Where Amaunet had tried to kill him. Where he had lost his wife. Three years of searching and hoping had ended in failure and Shar’e’s death. 

And now he was back here again. 

Only this time as the scene played out before him, something changed, the ending was different. This time his plan worked; Shar’e was still alive. Teal’c entered the tent and instead of striking her with a staff blast, stunned her, leaving her lying on the tent’s floor in Daniel’s arms. 

He cherished the moment, feeling her familiar warmth against his chest, her soft breaths. 

He knew it wasn’t real. That this wasn’t the way it had happened. 

They could have the life they had always wanted. He saw them safely tucked away on Kheb, raising Shifu as their own. Far away from the SGC and all the pain that had unfolded in the wake of Shar’e’s capture. 

All he had to do was give up his friends, give up the stargate. 

It wasn’t real. It hadn’t happened this way. 

It could be real. 

No. He had mourned for Shar’e. He had grieved her death. And he had moved on. There was someone else now. Someone his heart yearned for. And there were his friends, his chosen family. He couldn’t abandon them. 

HIs heart ached for Shar’e, and her life cut short. Stolen from her by the Goa’uld. 

But she had lived her life well. She had died saving him and Shifu. in the end she had released him. And he would honour her memory by letting her go. 

The tent faded into the darkness. 

~

The harvest festival had been delightful, Vala had been complimented on her great success at organizing the event. She heaved a sigh of relief as the rest of the family all settled down for the night. Only her mother kept her company, handing her a warming mug of tea as they sat in the window watching the stars turn. She thought back on her life, here in the town where she’d grown up. Her father had left them when she was ten, run off with some woman /Adria/ but she and her mother had managed. She’d worked hard and now her she was, a respected member of the town council, her own home, a family… 

It was a good life. The life she’d always secretly wished for on those days when Quetesh was most violent - Vala jolted in her seat. 

“Are you well, child?” The soft concern in her mother’s voice was soothing. Lulling her into accepting the world as it was. 

Except it hadn’t been like this. This wasn’t what had happened. Her mother had died. Her father had remarried and they’d sold her to an arm’s dealer. She remembered it more clearly now. They had lost the battle with the Ori - was this Adria’s doing? Vala’s gaze darted into the dark corners of the room as if her Ascended daughter might step out of the shadows. 

“Vala, really, what’s wrong? You don’t seem yourself just now?” 

She wasn’t herself, not the woman her mother remembered. She was someone else entirely. She needed to find out what had happened. Get back to the SGC. 

Or did she. 

The whispers in the flames. They had offered her a deal: they would give her the life she’d always wanted. Take away all the pain, the terror, the loneliness. All she had to do was give up her life with the Tau’ri. 

She had found happiness there, of a sort. She loved Daniel. In her own way. 

Her mother rested her hand on her arm, rubbing soothingly. A blanket was draped around her shoulders. Vala focused on the stars outside. On the calm within the house.  
On the calm she felt within herself. She had missed her mother so much… 

She let the old memories slip away, and smiled as she recalled the happy contented times that took their place.

~

She could smell the barbecue heating up in the back garden, Jack had started cooking the hotdogs for their 4th of July party. Sam continued to set up the telescope on the back porch for later on. Mars was in a good position and she wanted to show Grace and their friends’ kids the red planet. 

Grace. Her and Jack’s little girl. They had left the SGC behind them. Left all the craziness of gate travel and saving the world every other week, and settled down in the suburbs just outside Boulder, with a view of the mountains, to raise their little girl. 

It was a great life. 

But it wasn’t hers. This hadn’t happened. Sam could remember the battle now: she’d taken command of the Daedalus when Caldwell was incapacitated. She’d been about to blow the hyperdrive in an attempt to disable the Ori cruiser when all their systems had failed, like a switch had been flicked. The crew had been beamed off the ship and she’d ended up..  
Where? 

It was fading away, replaced by this happy life, with Grace, with Jack.. 

Not real, not real. A simulation. Or an alternate reality. Or maybe she’d been infected with nanites - she read about that hadn’t she? 

She could wake herself up and find Jack and then they would fix this like they always did. She didn’t have to accept this deal, she could make this life for herself. 

Sam woke up. 

~

The sound of the gun shot echoed through Jack’s head. 

He hadn’t been there. He hadn’t heard that particular shot. But he knew it.  
He’d imagined the scene countless times in his head. Going over and over everything that he’d done. Everything he hadn’t done. All the twists and turns that lead to Charlie getting a hold of his handgun. Pulling the trigger. 

Jack had travelled to other planets. Toppled alien empires. Saved the world. 

Charlie remained dead, and nothing and no-one could ever fill the gaping hole in his chest. 

It had taken a while for his marriage to fall apart. For them to realize that she could never look at him the same way again. But he’d lost Sara that day too. 

Jack breathed deeply and held it. Stealing himself for the inevitable rerun - he’d been tortured before, they’d even used memories of Charlie to hurt him, he knew how this worked. 

Except the shot didn’t come again. He could sense Alteran technology around him, whispered voices. He opened his eyes to Charlie reaching up to the top shelf of the wardrobe, taking down the lockbox with his gun in it. 

The box was locked. 

As he watched, Jack could see the padlock falling open, see Charlie lift the lid… 

He understood the deal: Charlie or the Stargate. 

The stargate: His team. His people. Or save Charlie. 

Jack didn’t hesitate. 

Charlie’s smile was dazzling as he ran to his father. 

~

Torren toddled towards her, giggling, and reached up his arms to her. Teyla lifted her little boy to cradle him against her, surveying the new permanent Athosian settlement. Her people bustled about their village happily discussing the forthcoming harvest, secure in the knowledge that the Wraith were gone. 

They were a distant memory. Her people would never know the terror of a culling again. 

The Wraith had been defeated, her people were safe. It was what she had always wanted. Why she had joined the Tau’ri in the City of the Ancestors. 

Atlantis. 

What had become of the City? And the people of Earth?  
Teyla could remember the Ori attack, but not the outcome of the battle - had they won?  
The whispers told her they had not. 

It was the Ori who offered this mirage of peace. They were the enemy of the Ancestors, and they held no love for the peoples of Pegasus. 

The price for this phantom world without Wraith was too high - she would not give up her new friends, and she would certainly not betray the Ancestors to their sworn enemies. 

Her people would find a way to survive, as they always had. Ancestors willing, they would one day defeat the Wraith through their own effort, and the victory would be all the sweeter for it. 

~

Ronan was running. 

The tree branches caught at his arms and legs as he ran. He must have been running for days. The Wraith were close. He could hear them crashing through the forest behind him. 

He was almost to the next gate. 

And then he would be running again - through the next world. And the next. 

He could never stop running. 

But he had stopped, hadn’t he? He’d reached Atlantis. A safe harbor. He’d made a home there. He was settling down, with Amelia. They were going to make it work on the Tau’ri home planet. 

Earth. There’d been space battle. They’d lost. The Ori were skilled fighters. Committed to their cause. And they had firepower. With that kind of ordinance they could take the fight to the Wraith themselves. 

He wouldn’t simply stop being prey. He’d become the hunter. 

The crackling whispers told him where the weapon was hidden in the undergrowth. Ronan reached down and picked It up. Hefted its weight in his hands. 

Then he turned on the nearest approaching Wrath and fired. 

The Wraith disintegrated with a satisfying scream. 

~

Rodney moved the three Nobel medals around in their display case, to best catch the early afternoon light. He couldn’t believe he had only received three so far! He had made so many breakthrough discoveries that had completely rewritten the physics textbooks. He could win every year for the rest of his life and still not run out of results to be nominated for. 

He should probably also enter for the Chemistry prize too, for his work with Carson on the biochemical interactions of nanites with human cellular tissue… 

Carson. Elizabeth. 

Two of his best friends were dead and no amount of prizes would bring them back. 

He had a life on Atlantis that he had to get back to. Jennifer? Where was she? What had happened in orbit? Was Atlantis ok? 

There were whispers, flickers of flames on the edges of his vision. Didn’t he like all the shiny medals? His antique hardwood desk, in his corner office at MIT? He was the most famous scientist in the world. He was a household name. They were going to name a chair at Cambridge after him… 

Jennifer might be hurt. And what about his teammates? The fleet would need his help, the City was barely holding up without his constant intervention as it was. 

Once upon a time he would have relished the prestige and the accolades, the recognition.  
But he had better than that now, he had friends, and what he did everyday was more important. 

He didn’t need a deal from the Ori of all people, he could do better himself. 

And he really couldn’t leave Radek alone for long, who knew what kind of trouble he would get them into.

~

He had screamed until his throat was raw, but that didn’t make it stop. 

He’d begged. Pleaded. Beaten, clawed, at the energy barrier between them until his hands were burned and bleeding. The scene kept replaying. 

Over and over and over again. 

He just wanted it to end. 

They were killing her. Tearing her apart cell by cell. Clinically cold, ruthlessly efficient. They wanted to inflict as much pain as they physically could before she died.  
When she started to scream, so did he. 

He watched helplessly as, agonizingly slowly, they tortured her to death. 

Again. 

And again. 

He didn’t know how long he had been here. 

He’d forgotten how he got here. Or what had come before. 

He only remembered her. 

Elizabeth. 

And his own name. 

Because it was the last word she breathed before she died. 

“John.”

~

The young half-breed was definitely his favourite. 

Lucifer watched contentedly as the principal pawns in the Ancient’s schemes were offered their deals. It was a fascinating glimpse into the psyche of the second evolution. 

In truth, it didn’t really matter to his plans whether they accepted his deals or not. 

Those who did could be safely returned to their home world to live peaceably. 

Those who did not would simply have to remain incarcerated, until they saw the error of their ways. 

It was the half-breeds who truly concerned him. It was they who were the lynch-pins in the Ancient’s machinery of control. 

Without them, his adversaries plans would come to nothing. 

And he’d had no trouble at all with O’Neill. He’d returned the man and his temporally-recovered offspring to the planet below. O’Neill would not risk the life of his child by returning to the Ancients fold. 

Lucifer glanced in on the younger half-breed, Sheppard, again. He was even stronger with their technology, and hence even more valuable to his enemies than O’Neill had been. 

He didn’t want to risk losing this one. He wanted to convert him.  
So he let the temporal loop run a little longer. 

Best to be sure. 

And if the loop went on too long, well… He wouldn’t be much use to anyone, if he were insane. 

~

John pressed himself against the energy barrier as close to where Elizabeth lay in her Asuran cell as he physically could.  
It burned at his skin, but he didn’t register the pain. These were the few calm moments they had before they came for her, when the loop reset. Before they came to kill her again. 

He didn’t know if she could sense his presence. He believed she could. They had always had a connection, beyond anything they could explain even to themselves. 

She was his light, guiding him home, and he’d been lost in the dark without her.  
And right now, Elizabeth was the only thing tethering him to reality.  
They had a few more moments. 

“And then your beloved Elizabeth will be tortured to death. Again.” 

John spun round: He’d been stuck in Hell for what felt like forever, and now the Devil had finally arrived. 

He pressed back against the barrier, as if that could shield Elizabeth, protect her, from the creature in front of him. 

“Oh but it isn’t we who are a threat to your Dr. Weir now, is it?” the Devil drawled, “In fact, I’m here to offer you a deal to save her life.”

John knew he shouldn’t listen. Knew that making a deal with the devil was a Bad Idea. 

He could almost hear Elizabeth lecturing him on all those Hallowe’en tales about tricksters and lost souls. 

Could see the half-amused, half-exasperated expression on her face. 

Could almost feel her touch on his arm… 

He longed for it more than he could say. 

He turned back to her, trapped in an Asuran cell, alone. Waiting for him.  
Never giving up, even in her last moments. 

“The temporal loop can be accessed at any time. Dr Weir can be retrieved from the past, from a point before her unfortunate end, and brought here to this time and place.” 

“Free to live out her life as she so wishes.”

Elizabeth had taught him to be wary, to think before he acted, “What do you want in return?” 

“Why, John, in return for saving your Elizabeth’s life, healing her of her injuries and removing the nanite plague with which your Ancient masters have inflicted her…”

“… All I ask is your allegiance.” 

So. All he had to do was betray their people and everything Elizabeth had stood for. 

Would she forgive him if he did? Probably. Possibly. 

It didn’t matter. Elizabeth would be alive. 

“Deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Hallowe'en!


End file.
